Cycle
by Follow My Voice
Summary: A young boy discovers a family secret kept over many generations when he is stolen away from his home life and placed into an unfamiliar territory.
1. Recount

**Cycle, Chapter 1 - Recount**

 _A long time ago, our ancestor woke up in a strange land, one that was not even the same time as his. He woke up to the background noise of many talking in quiet voices, in the wraps of a foreign bed. The faces around him were different, and when he ventured outside the scenery was tauntingly familiar yet different. The only item he had to his own name was the pendant hanging from his neck, a small and unassuming thing for the most part, yet his most treasured material possession._

 _In this strange land he was brought to, he learned to reinvent himself in the familiar scenery that was not his own. For many of his years, he stayed and loved this humble village. He raised his own family here, from the ashes of himself that had been scattered to this new world._

 _One day, he left, with nothing but the clothes he wore and a humble ration of food. His wife and children he had come to treasure in this village were left to wonder._ Why, _they asked,_ why has this honest and loving man abandoned us?

 _He answered in nothing but a handwritten note, an answer none of them save his wife could understand._

 _He fled in fear, as his secret had been discovered._

 _Curiously, he left behind his precious pendant. In the care of his family it remained, guarding the secret said to pass down from father to son in this unfamiliar world._

* * *

Looking up at his grandfather - quite a way up for the small boy - and then down at the pendant he now wore, he said no words.

"And now, this story and our heirloom has been passed down from grandfather to son, to you, Spencer. The time has come for you to bear it." he said gently, meeting his eyes.

"Will I find out the secret?" he asked, curiousity and excitement brimming in his voice, his small hand wrapped around the ever-changing orb.

"Perhaps." he replied softly. This seemed to please the young boy, for a smile broke out on his face. His grandfather smiled, too. With the pendant safely secured around his neck he dashed off, no doubt to go and play with his friends once more. He had no doubt in his mind that he would discover the family secret, for better or for worse.

* * *

Spencer walked home once again. At least it was the weekend. His hand felt out the necklace tucked under his shirt. Though now, at 15, he paid no attention to the story his grandfather had once told him, the heirloom's presence was still comforting. As a bonus, it suited him, or so he was told. The shifting, pale colours like an opal contrasted with his dark, nearly black hair and bright eyes. That was what everyone told him, so he chose to believe it.

When Spencer arrived home, it was eerily silent. There wasn't even a small cub running around his feet like usual.

"Maria?" he called, looking around. After a moment, Spencer added, "Sis?" hoping the older girl would respond. _Probably asleep_ , he thought. After 5 minutes of waiting and calling, he wrote a note, sticking it on the small table in their living room.

 _Sis, I went to look for Maria. You were asleep when I came in and she was missing._

Happy with his note, Spencer ran out the door, quickly throwing down his bag behind him.

This was really unusual for the hyperactive cub. Spencer had looked around the neighbourhood, seeing if she had ran off to another house for some mischief, to no avail. Maria was simply nowhere to be found. Sighing, he turned around to search in one last place. A road leading out of the city, onto a route filled with wild Pokémon and battling trainers. Spencer gulped. It wasn't ideal for Maria or him, but he was growing desperate.

As it turned out, he didn't have to look far.

"Maria!" Running, he crouched down over the small body of the cub. He cradled the Shinx in his arms. In his worry, he had failed to notice the unnatural stillness of the atmosphere. When he turned around to walk home, Spencer and the Shinx were met with a sharp green light.

It would had been strangely beautiful, had it not knocked him out.


	2. The Unknown

**Cycle, Chapter 2 - The Unknown**

Waking up was painful. Everything felt wrong, like a Monday morning after a holiday. Except those Mondays didn't start with stones in his side, even if they often felt that way emotionally. His eyes traced unfamiliar scenery, looming trees and unmoving shrubbery with no signs of civilization in sight.

Worst of all, his body felt unresponsive and somehow warm despite the caress of cold wind on his face.

"Woah…" An unfamiliar voice had breathed out. It was feminine, but too high pitched to be his sister. He heard steps - pawsteps - and found himself face to face with the blue fur and yellow eyes of Maria.

"Maria," he groaned out, "what happened to me? Why can you talk to me?"

"Uh, you can hear me now? Awesome!" The Shinx bounced in place a bit at this news. "Well, I don't know what happened to you. Not exactly, 'cause I can see you, but I don't know why you're like that, we were both out, but-"

"Maria, get to the point," he blinked, pausing, "please."

"Right! Sorry, Pence. You're looking more Pokémon than human right now. I mean, you always felt that way, but I thought that was just me." _What did she mean by that?_ "I don't know what kind of Pokémon you are, so maybe we could ask around? Other Pokémon, I mean."

Spencer sat for a while, examining himself. He had large wings on his back, red feathered and tipped with white and green. The feathers seemed to catch every bit of low light coming through the trees. He noticed smaller changes - when he ran his hand through his hair, there was a strange sort of crest on his head. Turning his neck, he caught a glimpse of what seemed to be orange tail feathers.

In the end, he fell into a heap from all the turning and looking he was doing. It was from this position that Spencer finally spoke.

"Speak to other Pokémon? Are you crazy?! They'll chase us out! And on top of that, I'm still not convinced this isn't some sort of strange dream!" Maria chose to let actions speak, by biting him lightly on the arm. Spencer grit his teeth in pain, and tried to ignore how terribly his life was currently going.

"Well, then… We could at least find somewhere to sleep! It's not just a dark creepy forest, it's getting late, too. I really need some shut-eye, and so do you." Maria spoke quietly at the end of her sentence. "Being knocked out doesn't make me feel rested, Pence. I'm still tired." she admitted.

"Okay, then." Spencer mumbled. As much as he wanted to get home and find out what had happened, he was tired too. He stood, the unfamiliar wings on his back simply dragging on the ground. _I'll figure them out in the morning._ "Let's go."

As they ventured through the forest, there was barely a sound to be heard. Not even the scuffling of wild Pokémon, whether they were settling in for the night or just waking up. Maria looked unnerved, constantly darting her head this way and that, but Spencer didn't seem to pay it much mind. After all, he had more pressing matters on his mind. Like…

"Maria, have you seen my necklace at all? You woke up before me," he suddenly broke the silence, "and you know it's important. I just hope some wild Pokémon hasn't stolen it." Maria yawned, and simply shook her head.

"I couldn't smell any Pokémon around us recently when I woke up, and I don't think we've been here for that long, because we would be way hungrier." She frowned. "Maybe it got left behind from whenever we got here?" This time, it was Spencer's turn to frown.

"I suppose. We can look in the morning…" he trailed off, sounding unsure, but yawned.

"Definitely the morning." The Shinx looked around again, then seemed to spot something. "Let's rest here!" She ran off into a clearing through some bushes. Spencer dragged after her hesitantly. Sure enough, it was big enough for the two of them, and was surrounded by bushes. They settled down on the ground, shuffling for a while, before they finally fell asleep. That night, Spencer dreamed of the tale of his ancestor.

Spencer woke up with the sun shining in his face, with barely any leaves to filter it. He slowly got up, though chose not to stand yet. He stretched his body - _all_ his body, including his new-found wings, he reminded himself, but remained sitting. Maria had gone missing once again, but before he could worry, the small feline carrying an assortment of colourful berries on twigs in her mouth. She had small marks of berry juices around her mouth, and looked more energetic than yesterday. Gently, she set the berries on the ground before Spencer.

"I already ate, so have all of this. They're not that filling compared to our regular food, though…" Maria looked dejected at this, but Spencer pat her on the head.

"It's okay. Thanks for looking for them." Maria smiled, and Spencer start to ate quickly, not paying attention to the berries he was eating. As he ate, he looked around, listening carefully to his surroundings. "It's still pretty quiet, huh? I wonder why. Maybe not many Pokémon live here?" His question was directed more at himself, but Maria answered regardless.

"I dunno… I smelt a lot of old scents. But they weren't that old, I think. I'm not very good at tracking, but I think they were still here recently. Maybe we'll find some others if we go deeper in?" Maria suggested. Spencer shrugged, and got up, dusting off his shorts as best he could.

"Don't have any better ideas, so let's go." With that, they set off deeper into the forest.

They had been walking for what felt like hours. From what little glimpses they had of the sun, it hadn't been too long, but the forest was taking it's toll on the city inhabitants. They stopped for quick breaks every so often, but still felt drained after walking in the vastly different terrain.

"This really sucks," he said quietly, unable to move the wings more than a twitch. "I don't have any kind of knowledge on how wings are meant to work. How am I meant to do this?" After a while, he gave up, and simply let them drag on the ground as they had before.

"It's usually instinct. If you can't get that going, I dunno. Maybe push you off a cliff, but I wouldn't do that to you." Maria seemed unaffected by the strange comment she had just made, so Spencer chose not to comment on it. "This is really weird, Pence. I can smell Pokémon, but they seem to never get closer. Like they're running from something." Feeling tired, they looked around for somewhere to rest, worries weighing heavy on their mind. Another clearing was in view, which they entered.

Much to their surprise, there were two canine Pokémon lounging in the clearing. One was black, with orange markings, curved white horns and what looked to be bones on its neck and back. It's sharp-tipped tail was flicking lazily from side to side as it basked in the sunlight.

The other was dwarfed by the black beast. It was the stark opposite, with pale brown and white fur and a large white mane with protruding rocks. Fur stuck out from its face and it had a thick, white tail. Neither seemed to notice the newcomes in their dozing state.

"That's… a Houndoom. I don't know what the other is, though." Spencer whispered to Maria. Maria gave the best shrug a quadruped could. "Should we move away?" At this, however, the brown one raised it's head.

"Oh, come in. We won't hurt travellers. We're like minded, you see." It - no, he - had a low, rumbling voice. They certainly looked fit to take out anyone who set foot in their territory. Hesitantly, Spencer and Maria sat down inside the clearing proper. "I'm a species known as Lycanroc. That's also the name I go by, so please remember it." The Houndoom seemed to finally acknowledge their presence, smirking lightly at the Lycanroc.

"Or call him Rocky. He loves it, you see," she smirked. Lycanroc growled in response. Her voice was smooth, and surprisingly light for her appearance. "I'm Sia, and you're right, I'm a Houndoom."

Well, if they were acting polite… "It's nice to meet you. I'm Spencer." He nodded his head, as a sort of slight bow. "I'd introduce myself as a human, but I'm a bit different right now."

"I'm Maria! I'm a Shinx, if you didn't know!" She grinned at the two, not intimidated by their behaviour or their sizes dwarfing her. "We're looking for some Pokémon, any Pokémon, and we found them! Can you help us?" Spencer frowned. _Just because they're polite, doesn't mean they're not up to something. Houndoom is a dark type, you can't always trust those, right?_

"Relax, bird boy. We wouldn't lay a paw on a legendary even if we wanted to. We can take you to someone who knows way more about this kinda stuff than us." Sia had noticed his frown and tense posture, then. Instead of replying, he nodded. _Legendary, huh? I didn't want to believe it, but..._ "We'll do it now, she'll be happiest to see us at this kinda time." She got up promptly, surprisingly fast for someone who had been falling asleep in the sunshine. "Get up, Rocky." She treated Lycanroc with none of the courtesy she had towards to the duo, and the same seemed to go for him, who had growled once again at her comments, but followed her orders anyway. When they were standing, he could see clearly how tall they were in comparison. Sia was huge, with her horns reaching Spencer's shoulder. Lycanroc was slightly over half of Sia's size, and Maria was small enough to run between either of the pair's legs. With everyone ready to go, they ventured once more into the forest.

* * *

 **AN: I'm not really one for author's notes, but I just wanted to let anyone reading some things. The updates, should you choose to follow this fic, will probably be wildly inconsistent thanks to my rapidly changing motivation and my work on other things, both school-related and personal. Another thing is please don't be afraid to leave criticism. Some people I know have an aversion to leaving criticism on people's first stories, so I'll let you know off the bat that this is far from my first fic. I've been writing fanfics on and off for 6+ years, though this is the first I feel confident in finishing and fleshing out. Please, please _please_ let me know if you think anything can be improved and I will read any and all reviews and perhaps reply to any should they require a reply. I also hope that the chapters will get longer from here on out, which is why I'm publishing the first two together. I felt they worked better separate despite how short they are by themselves.**


End file.
